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Sunday, October 17, 2010

2010 New York City Wine & Food Festival

Last weekend I had the most fantastic foodie experience of my life (so far). My husband and I enjoyed a trip to the New York City Wine & Food Festival, compliments of ShopRite. No, I didn't win a contest. I'm honored that I was asked to participate in a new ShopRite food blogger panel and this event was our kickoff for the year.

This entire experience reminded me of how blessed I am to be able to share my love of cooking and baking with other food-minded people through this blog. Plus, I realized how convenient it is to live just two hours from several major cities, including New York. Although NYC is a mere two hours away, I doubt I would have attended this festival without the ShopRite opportunity.

On Friday, October 8th we packed my car and headed up to New York City. When we arrived at the Tribeca Grand Hotel we relaxed for an hour and admired the contemporary decor and our goodies from ShopRite. This was our first taste of foodie swag at the NYC Food & Wine Festival. We love free stuff, especially food, so we were psyched.

In true NY style, the room was small and stylish.

Around 1:00 p.m. I left E relaxing in the hotel room and joined the other bloggers and ShopRite people to head over to the Beverage and Media Tasting for the festival (sort of like a preview day).

ShopRite was one of the event sponsors.

I met so many bloggers, ShopRite execs, ShopRite chefs, chefs from everywhere else, and bloggers that I was almost overwhelmed. So much food... so many people... so many questions. I relaxed and enjoyed the experience.

The entire ShopRite group had a dinner date at Abe and Arthur's at 5:00 (starting with a happy hour and book signing with Tyler Florence). Some bloggers decided to go back to the hotel to freshen up before dinner, but Emily and I decided to stay at the festival a bit longer and head back to scoop up our husbands right before we met for dinner. Emily and I proceeded to leave the festival at 4:00, found out that it was impossible to get a cab in the direction of our hotel, completely forgot about the option of the subway, and walked for at least two miles in uncomfortable shoes to meet our husbands before heading back to dinner. Of course, as soon as we reached our husbands they suggested that we take the subway to the restaurant and we arrived just in time to enjoy happy hour and meet Tyler Florence.

Tyler Florence was really nice!

I'm so happy E was able to come support me and enjoy this event.

We all received copies of Tyler's new book, Family Meal. We also enjoyed wine and assorted hors d oeuvres before an impressive dinner at Abe and Arthur's. Good company and good food... we were both in heaven. It was so great to talk to other people who are not only passionate about food, but who also love to cook.

Everything from the atmosphere to the food was great at Abe and Arthur's

E had the filet

I had the fish... I believe it was cod with some crispy shrimp.

Strawberry cheesecake parfait was one of the dessert options.

We all loved these delicious, hot mini donut holes with sweet syrups.

On Saturday we were free to explore the festival on our own and this time E was able to accompany me. We took full advantage of the opportunity to taste as many foods and drinks as possible.

We were on a mission!

Delicious pumpkin soup

Adorable Jelly Belly cupcakes

Fried jumbo shrimp over and Indian-spiced slaw

Ellie Krieger from Healthy Appetite was kind enough to speak to me about the wonders of Barilla Wheat Pasta

Of course, I look all sweaty in this professional high-def photo taken by a real photographer with a real camera, LOL! We were fortunate enough to be among the last few people to get our book signed by Giada.

I have so much more to share, but instead I'll be compiling a series of video clips into a short video documentary of our experiences in NYC. Stay tuned... it may be a week or more before I get around to it, but it's coming!

In the meantime I'm looking forward to getting back to actual recipe posts! I spent this entire weekend cooking up tons of autumn deliciousness and I'm looking forward to sharing the recipes this week!

Keeley, this looks soooooo amazing! Like I considered trying to go the this festival because I got an email from one of my foodie site about it, and I'm def going in 2011. I can't believe you got to meet Tyler Florence, he's awesome! and was Giada as condescending in real life as she is on TV? Does she always display all 2347 teeth in her moth when talking? Was Ellie Krieger dry? Is the barilla wheat pasta really any good? dish dish!